STARK'S AVOWAL
by sillym3
Summary: Tony and Pepper talking. Subject : Lady Gaga & Alejandro.  #Movieverse#


**A/N : Okay… This is my second attempt. It is some sort of continuation of my first IM fic, but one doesn't have to read it first to follow. Enjoy;)**

**STARK'S AVOWAL**

"Yeah, really?"

"Good, that's good. I'll send a limo to pick her up. No, better yet, I'll pick her up myself. How'd she like a Lamborghini?"

"Oh, I see, a humvee then… so-"

The rest of the conversation slipped out of Pepper's interest. She was perching on a bed, in a position so sensual every living male with healthy sex-orientation would have drooled himself wet. The skimpy sheet made of silk barely hid her curvaceous satin-clad body. Her hair a halo laid on her shoulders like a smooth ribbon made of finest golden threads.

Yet, Tony Stark ignored her as if she was nothing but a cold pillow, busy with his Blackberry, having conversation with only-God-knows-who.

Pepper sighed. It was Saturday; she had heroically pulled herself out of those damned meetings and paperwork, hoping to get a treat or two from her multibillinoiare lover.

_Lover? Right._ Pepper snorted inwardly, he hadn't said anything about love. She and Tony were no lovers.

_We're just a great example of mutualism symbiosis. _

She decided to wait for another minute, thinking that if Tony was still on the phone by then, she would go downstairs and invite her sharp quartet of Asian regional manager to review the latest Stark Industries policy on regional minimum salary.

At least by conducting the meeting, she would get some action.

Hell if the action was far more different from what she had in mind right now.

Thankfully, Tony seemed to read her mind and ended the annoying tête-à-tête. He turned to face the bed, loosening his maroon designer tie.

_Yes, finally! _Pepper cheered inwardly, not so accidentally pulling the sheet down her body.

When Tony threw the tie away then hastily unbuttoned his dress-shirt, Pepper couldn't help but grinning like a Cheshire cat. However, the grin faded when Tony headed for the closet instead. "Pepper, where's my electric blue shirt, the one that you bought me for Thanksgiving?" He asked innocently.

"Oh, that shirt. I probably had it burned on Christmas." She answered not so patiently, getting up from the bed and donned her robe.

"Oh come on, Pepper. Bad sense of humor, right when I need it the most."

Pepper shoved Tony aside, shuffling through various shirts on the hangers and picked the shirt in question. She dangled it by the hanger in front of Tony, staring fiercely into his eyes. "What, if I may ask, do you need this shirt for?"

Tony smirked and snatched the shirt from her. "It's an electric blue shirt." He stated matter-of-factly, clearly enjoying the look of confusion in Pepper's eyes.

"You know? electric blue. I can't help but thinking of something electric when there's a Lady named Gaga involved." He folded the shirt in half, reaching for a slim briefcase on the shelf atop Pepper's head and carefully tucked the shirt inside.

"Lady Gaga?" Pepper crossed her arms across her chest.

"Yep, that was her manager on the phone, confirming that Lady Gaga has accepted my lunch invitation."

"Lunch? You meant dinner?" The clock on the wall told Pepper that it was already ten minutes past eight p.m.

"Nope, lunch, Gaga is currently at the part of the earth where the sun is still shining."

"So, a lunch with a celebrity whose sense of fashion is too awful for words is more important than spending a night with me now." Pepper bitterly spat out, couldn't contain her frustration for much longer.

"Her fashion statement is unique, Pepper." Tony snickered. Then as if an idea suddenly appeared out of thin air and exploded in his head, Tony turned to stare at Pepper. "You want to spend a night with me?"

It took all of Pepper's strength not to bash the man in front of her with the hangers. She just took a deep breath, and slowly stepped out of the closet. "Never mind. Just go and have your lunch at Timbuktu."

"Hey now." Tony caught her by the wrist, tugging gently so her back was flush against his chest. "I got no memo saying we're about to spend tonight together."

"A memo?" Pepper's struggle was fruitless as Tony embraced her from behind.

"Well," Tony loosened his hug a bit so he could scuff Pepper's check with his goatee. "Isn't that how we do it lately? You play busy, I play needy, and when the tension is unbearable you send me an invitation to your apartment so we can play naughty."

"Tony," Pepper sighed, "I **am** busy, there are these big mergers in China and Indonesia and that damned satellite project you want to start in…"

"Nah. You've been playing busy since the pregnancy-test mishap." He cut her mid-sentence. "Are you trying to pin the negative test on me? Is it my fault that you're not carrying my child prodigy? "

"Tony…"

"News flash Pepper, if you really want to have my child, a quickie between lunch and your flight to Abu Dhabi is not the solution."

"Tony!" She finally freed herself from his grasp, "I don't want your child!"

"Oh…" He frowned.

Realizing how harsh her words were and how far they were from the exact truth, Pepper reached for Tony's hand. "I meant, ummm, I do want to have your baby, later, someday after we really talk about it."

"Really," His expression softened as he looked at their entwined hands.

"Really, I just… you haven't said anything since the test came back negative… and I think I'm afraid that you've fallen to hate me that day… that's why I keep myself busy, the test…"

He cut her sentence again, this time by kissing her gently on the lips, a lingering kiss they hadn't shared to each other in weeks. "Despite how annoying you could sometimes be, I've never hated you, Pepper. All I ever feel for you is the total contradictory of hate," he whispered before kissing her once more.

Pepper kissed back, as gentle and as sweet, only stopped reciprocating when she went out of breath. "So, yeah, can we talk right now?" She eyed the briefcase on the bed with hopeful sigh.

"We're talking."

"I meant, serious talking, about us."

"Nu uh." The shook of his head was a total disappointment for her. "Can't keep Lady Gaga waiting, she's one foot in to endorse our latest communication invasion to Saudi."

"Lady Gaga? I thought you want Shakira to represent Stark's Telecom?"

"Nope. Changed my mind." He let go of her and pull another suitcase from the closet, his armor case. "We'll talk okay. In person, no memo, no e-mail, no nonsense." He kissed her on the cheek, his foot already in on the case.

Pepper nodded, reeling between happiness and bitterness, yet she forced a smile as Tony flied himself skyward.

_At least he confessed his love to me, sort of._

_-XXXXXXXXXXX-_

"So, Alejandro, I can see all the gold stars you've collected in this resume, but you haven't told me the exact reason why you give up your last job." Pepper held up the folder containing all the details collected by Stark Industries' human resources department. She spotted no dirt in Alejandro's past life, and absolutely no flaws in his previous working experience.

As far as Pepper concerned, she was about to nail one hell of a personal assistant. An assistant she desperately needed.

"Yeah, about working with miss Ivana… I…"

There were sounds of knocking, Pepper craned her neck to see pass Alejandro's well built body, expecting someone to come through the door.

But there was no one.

"Go on." She gestured for Alejandro to continue.

"Miss Ivanka was a good superior. I learned a lot from her. Yet…."

Again, another series of knocking could be heard in Pepper's chamber. When Pepper was about to open her mouth, Alejandro pointed behind her.

"What?"

"I'm sorry Miss Potts, but I think your guess is in the balcony."

Pepper turned in her leather chair, spotting none other but one Tony Spark, in his Iron Man suit, knocking at the glass door that separated Pepper's office and the balcony.

Tony knocked again, adding enthusiastic waves of his hand.

"My god." Pepper hissed, pushing the button to open the glass door. "What is it he wants this time?"

"Hello," Came an overly cheery greeting as Tony stepped into the room, not so discreetly ignoring Alejandro. He then unwrapped himself from the suit in record time before bending down to pick a fruit from a bowl atop Pepper's desk. His lips almost brushed with Pepper's,

Of course, Pepper craned her neck away, avoiding the not so accidental kiss. "I'm in the middle of an interview!" She hissed.

"Oh dear, I miss you too." Tony bit at the apple straight away while leaning against the desk, acting as if everything was good with the world,.

"Go on, don't bother me…" He added another bite, "Damn I'm hungry, see what this solo intercontinental flight does to me?"

Pepper could only roll her eyes as she drove her attention back to the interview. "So, about working with Ivanka, the multibillionaire daughter?"

"Right." Alejandro maintained his professional trait by a second, lifted his chin to start explaining.

Of course, Tony interrupted him. "You work with Ivanka? Bet she fired you for ogling her huh? She got pretty good boobs job"

"Tony!" Pepper raised her voice by a few octaves. "I'm sorry about that Alejandro. When Mr. Stark is tired he tends to over talk." Pepper spoke to Alejandro, yet narrowed her eyes at Tony, the culprit who was now feigning interest at his sweat-soiled T - shirt. "If you don't mind to wait outside, we can continue our interview in a moment."

Alejandro nodded, smiling politely toward Tony before walking for the door.

"You…" Pepper waited until Alejandro was no longer in the room before starting to spit out her protest at Tony.

"His pants are too tight for his own good." Tony's comment cut Pepper short.

"What?"

"I think he's gay." Tony tossed the rest of his apple to the garbage can and reached for an orange from the bowl.

"I don't care, Tony. I need a professional assistant; it's no matter what his sexual preference is."

"Well, what if someday in the near future he decides it is very professional to flirt with me. Can you handle the competition?"

"Oh, you're so full of yourself, aren't you?" Pepper sighed, "Spill it Tony, why are you here for?"

"I'm here for food, hungry remember?" Not so innocently, Tony held out the half-peeled orange toward Pepper's direction.

"Either you tell me or I continue interviewing Alejandro," Pepper picked up her purse and stoof, "You think Alejandro would fancy lunch interview?"

"He would if the maitre d' looks like Brad Pitt." Using his body to stop Pepper from walking, Tony lifted his hands up. "I'm here to talk." He admitted.

"Talk?"

"Yeah, talk"

"About what?"

"You know, the thing that you want to talk about?"

Pepper raised her eyebrow.

Tony copied her motion.

"I'm going." Pepper pushed Tony aside, but he managed to hold her by the waist.

"I'm trying to keep my promise here." Tony's forehead scrunched in seriousness, "I thought you want to talk about us."

Pepper sighed, unwrapped herself from Tony. "That was when? A week ago? Before your playdate with Gaga?"

"Hey, I was busy saving the world from bad guys. You've played busy before and I didn't mind"

Pepper raised her eyebrows against, silently challenging him to continue.

Of course, Tony realized his bad moves and took a step back. "Okay sorry, I'm sorry. After lunch with Gaga, Rhodey called me to handle this situation in Pakistan, and then this new software…"

"Tony…, is there an us?"

He gaped, yet she kept staring, unwilling to lose her own nerve.

She had known Tony long enough to know that the man was semi-allergic to commitment. Yet, she had set her foot in uncharted territory of loving him. To make matter worse, she had confessed said love to him.

She had confessed to love the man whose middle name was love-freak-me-out.

And this was the perfect time to know if the man really was on the same side, or at least willing to be on the same side.

"I…" Tony started, his brows furrowed as if they helped him searching for the right words.

"Yes?"

"I do want an us." He sat at the seat Alejandro had recently vacated. "I mean, I kind of think of us as a couple. We are a couple, right?"

"I don't know." Pepper gazed at some point on the ceiling. She didn't know the exact answer of his question either.

"I know I never indicate us as a couple, but all the variables in the equation lead to that conclusion right?" He asked again.

_Oh God, leave it to him to make love sounds so mathematic. _Pepper smiled wearily.

"We have sex, we share kisses, we go to dinner, we fuss with each other, you stay at my place sometimes, and I stay at yours; although the frequency has been on the low side lately. That's pretty much a relationship right? That defines us?"

"You've practiced those things with more than half of beautiful female population, Tony."

"Yeah, but I didn't put my heart into it."

Pepper sighed, thinking if that was the definition of relationship in Tony's thesaurus, she was doomed to be heartbroken.

"Okay, here, let's put this in a less-technical way." He leaned forward. "I, Tony Stark, need you, Pepper Potts, in my life. I'm yours and you are mine, hopefully."

_Hell yes, I am. _Pepper could easily make out the muscles under his T-Shirt. Her heart told her not to care about their status as long as she could have his body, yet her mind barked her to stand on her ground.

"So," Pepper also leaned forward, "Am I your girlfriend?"

"Yes."

The speed of his answer convinced her as much as the sincerity in his eyes.

"There is an us?"

"Yes, us, we." He nodded and childishly grinned. "I'm not good with words Pepper, not when I mean them. But I…"

Pepper held her breath, anticipating the four letters word she had longed to hear since day one.

"I… I care about you and I don't think I can live without you."

She smiled, that wasn't exactly what she wanted to hear but for now that was enough. "I love you too, Tony."

"Good, I meant, me too." He leaned deeper to give her a kiss.

She was fast to retreat. "Now, since you're mine, can I ask you to at least try to be a monogamist? No more fancy date with Gaga, Madonna, or any other woman. Not without my screening."

It felt good to ground some rules in this newly established and freshly declared relationship. Although Pepper knew how hard the statistic spoke against the possibility of a monogamist Tony Stark.

"It wasn't a date; me and Gaga only had a business lunch."

Pepper crossed her arms across her chest and didn't forget to feign a mean frown.

"Okay, screening first." Tony nodded gamely. "But you're not hiring Alejandro as your PA either."

"What? He has nothing to do with this. You said yourself he's a gay."

Tony just shrugged and stood, bending over the table so his lips almost touched Pepper's, "No Alejandro."

"No Alejandro." Pepper repeated and smirked before closing the distance between them, consuming Tony's lips in a sweet longing kiss. She only let go after a while, pushing against Tony's chest. "But I still owe him the courtesy of a finished interview."

Tony groaned, hoisted himself up. "Can I just go out there and tell him that he fails?"

"On what ground?" Pepper was already at the door.

"Health issue, nobody could live healthy in those pants."

Pepper laughed and pushed the door open, "Stay here, I won't be long."

"You better," Tony already whisked his shirt off, sitting on Pepper's desk. "Oh and Pepper."

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

**EnD**

**The fic is unbeta-ed and I'm not really good at English grammar, constructive critic would be accepted with delight:)**


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